When you say “We aim for 55 km/hour at 150 w. 150 watt “, could you explain us the way you defined the required power to ride at this speed ? I assume this is directly linked to the aerodynamics of your Tilt VM. Is this required power based on calculation or testing on a prototype ?
Thank you
Sylvain

It is common for motorists to maintain incorrectly that the vehicle-tax and fuel duty that they pay ‘subsidises’ cyclists and other road users. This is untrue, in-fact, the reverse is often true. There are numerous externalities of motor-vehicle use: air-pollution, noise pollution, deaths and morbidity arising; diseases of inactivity (from creating a hostile road environment that deters active transport); etc.

Like anything that is artificially under-priced, there is an excessive demand with frivolous and unnecessary driving is encouraged. People have apparently lost the ability to walk further than a few tens of metres.

If motorists were to be charged the full cost of these externalities, charges would necessarily need to be levied on mileage and fuel, probably with a time-of-day component, to iron-out congestion peaks.
Driving would become less popular, while walking, velomobiles, cycling and Public transport would become increasingly attractive and with less motoring, the world would be a less-congested, safer, quieter less polluted and healthier place.

Ref.
The True Costs of Automobility: External Costs of Cars
Overview on existing estimates in EU-27
Final Report
TU Dresden
Chair of Transport Ecology
Prof. Dr. Ing. Udo J. Becker
Thilo Becker
Julia Gerlach
Dresden, October 12th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/c67dwq3

thanks for the Nissan link. At the moment we are mainly looking at technical feasibility of the bike. It obviously can exist in CAD, but what happens when we take one to the roads. How will it perform in windy conditions, will we achieve the speed potential, and so on. We are looking at pricing as well in terms of design choices versus manufacturing costs, but only on a limited scale at the moment.

On Drymer: Last thing I heard is that the company was bought by one of the suppliers. This was in 2011. In June of this year apparently it was introduced. No news after that. This project has been around under various names and owners for a long time indeed.

I liked the Munzo TT design very much and would love to see your design in production and eventually for sale, but price is a valid consideration for many, especially those who don’t earn European salaries. The rear wheel tilt mechanism reminds me of the Nissan tilting concept electric car “LandGlider” http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dFLKhvdzJec

BTW, since you are Dutch, do you know what happened to the Drymer (semi-upright, mostly covered tilting tadpole trike with elec. assist)? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRxJXkw5aLs Not much was ever available on that project in English though it has been around for at least 5 years now.

Cheers, and all the best.